This is a great looking game with one huge glaring flaw, your AI team-mates! If only Dragon Age could have looked this good!Everything about this game is your typical quest, so I won't bore you with what works, and will only highlight what will make your crack your teeth and pull out your hair, your AI team-mates!The AI team-mates are absolutely horrible.
1. They run ahead yelling forThis is a great looking game with one huge glaring flaw, your AI team-mates! If only Dragon Age could have looked this good!Everything about this game is your typical quest, so I won't bore you with what works, and will only highlight what will make your crack your teeth and pull out your hair, your AI team-mates!The AI team-mates are absolutely horrible.1. They run ahead yelling for you to follow constantly! Capcom hid items all around a level, behind walls, down cliffs, so they knew people would take time looking for items, yet your AI team-mates just won't shut up, telling you to come this way. I would use the help button to bring them back only to have them come, turn around and run ahead, shouting.2. One area the AI team-mates instruct you to be quiet, all the while they are yelling "GOBLINS"3. They don't wait at all! They will rush ahead killing everything before you even get a chance to see the enemy, affecting how you level up.4. They will pick up items without telling you they got an item. The screen is so busy, good luck knowing what the AI picked up for you, without pausing the game.5. Collision detection is HORRIBLE! Your AI will run through you, themselves, boulders, and enemies. I stood in the middle of a Belly of a Boss, while it spun around trying to figure out where I was, and all I had to do was stand in the middle of the Boss and Hack and Slash till it fell!6. Sometimes when you do want to go exploring, your AI will jump around like a Mexican Hopping Beans. I walked down a cliff to look for treasure, and here came those irritating AI Pawns! Oh how I wanted them to just jump off the cliff and die!7. Did I mention your AI team-mates are HORRIBLE! If there was only someway to play through the game by yourself or a "STAY" command like there was in Dragon Age.

Sadly the AI Pawns, ie..Team Mates, take a gorgeous fun to play game, and turn it into back seat drivers constantly saying "Are we there yet..Are we there yet..Are we there yet..Are we there yet??"…Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
While the game looks awesome and the replay value is actually pretty high, it has a few glaring issues that cannot be overlooked. The biggest issue is the massive plot-holes in the romantic themes. The romance, while not a desired aspect of the game experience, is jagged and illogical and it is very much forced into the plot. Spoilers follow so stop reading if you don't want to know; however, these spoilers are not in regard to how the game ends. The primary romance that is just wrong, and since I only made it that far as a male character, presumably it only happens if you are male, is when you fall in love with the duchess. It is such an unexpected development and once pursued it is either accomplished or failed. The problem is that what happens after the "affair" makes no sense at all and indicates a flaw in the storytelling. You get busted by the Duke and imprisoned and tortured but when you break out of jail you resume your quests for the duke as if nothing happened. It is so bizarre and really makes the love angle irrelevant and forced. Add to that two other characters that complicate the romance department and an unexpected heavy-handed climax, it is easy to see how the story itself is rather convoluted and messy. The silly romance angle aside, the game is pretty spectacular. The combat is pretty cool and the "share" system with the pawns, as well as the customization of your primary pawn, is pretty cool. Also the game play after the final act and credits is very much affected by the outcome of the final act which is pretty awesome. I made a choice and I get to play through the consequences of that choice and all I have to say to that is WOW. It really does seem to become a whole new game experience after the credits role. So, silly love stories aside, it's pretty solid. I know a 7 may be kind of low for a game that is otherwise pretty awesome but the flaws leave a pretty sour taste behind and chances are others feel the same way. I won't spoil it... you'd have to play all the way to the credits to understand what I mean.…Expand

An intriguing addition to the Action RPG genre that's wonderfully innovative in some areas but very weak in others. GOOD: Fantastic combat system that's genuinely very exciting with a wonderful sense of physicality reminiscent of Dark Souls; The Pawn System for sharing and hiring party members is a genuinely exciting new method to play games of this genre and has a surprising amount ofAn intriguing addition to the Action RPG genre that's wonderfully innovative in some areas but very weak in others. GOOD: Fantastic combat system that's genuinely very exciting with a wonderful sense of physicality reminiscent of Dark Souls; The Pawn System for sharing and hiring party members is a genuinely exciting new method to play games of this genre and has a surprising amount of depth to it; Great amount of freedom where you can pretty much grab onto anything in the game world, whether that be a rock face, a towering cyclops or a poor unfortunate rabbit that you decided to throw off a cliff; Character and monster animations are superb and some of the best seen in this genre; Each class in the vocation system feels genuinely unique and the the class you choose massively effects the way you handle each battle; Some of the bigger enemies you battle are simply awesome, requiring various techniques to take them down; The use of lighting in the game is superb and adds an element of suspense to night time battles; Post-game asynchronous co-op is a really interesting new way to play games of this genre. BAD: Terrible story told through tedious nonsensical cutscenes involving ludicrous characters; Romance system is lazily implemented and just doesn't make any sense; Game world is actually very small and lacks variety; Graphics on most NPCs are horrible; Screen tear and FPS drops can sometimes distract from the beauty and excitement of battles; With no difficulty settings or an increase in difficulty with each subsequent NG+, the game becomes quite unchallenging after around level 40 which completely undermines the excitement of felling larger foes; Hired pawns have a tendency of repeating the exact same piece of dialogue constantly and especially during battle where they will happily tell you hundreds of times that everything is weak to fire; There is actually very little enemy variety when travelling in the wilderness and random battle events do not happen frequent enough; Item combining and weapon smithing is a bit weak and unexciting; Main quest line is extremely short and the way that non-noticeboard side-quests appear is odd and lacks consistency. OVERALL: I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dragon's Dogma. The battle system is genuinely very exciting and the Pawn System is a great new way to shake up the stale party mechanics of other RPGs. However, there's no denying that Dragon's Dogma has some way to go before it can fully live up to its potential. Dragon's Dogma 2 has already been announced which is great news, as now the foundations of the combat and pawn system have been laid down, Capcom can focus on making everything else shine just as much.…Expand

If Skyrim and Dark Souls had a bratty child it would be Dragon's Dogma and just like that child sometimes it's fun to play with but ultimately it could benefit from some better parenting. This game has many promising elements, none of which are implemented well. The combat is fun and the various classes each have many unique unlockable moves encouraging experimentation. Outside of thisIf Skyrim and Dark Souls had a bratty child it would be Dragon's Dogma and just like that child sometimes it's fun to play with but ultimately it could benefit from some better parenting. This game has many promising elements, none of which are implemented well. The combat is fun and the various classes each have many unique unlockable moves encouraging experimentation. Outside of this though the game falls flat in every area. I have honestly spent half of my time playing running from one end of the map to the other as the game has no real fast travel system (outside of special single use items that only connect to one location.) This is just one of the cheap shortcuts the developers used to artificially inflate this flat game. Check your bargain bin for this mildly interesting RPG but save your big bucks for better games.…Expand

Great concepts, fun combat, but feels limited and unfinished. Seems like so much work was put into character/pawn system, and the dynamic combat and creature models, that the story was left unfinished and partially done. Still played through it. Crafting systems is cumbersome and limited, ends up being annoying. I found it difficult to do anything with pawn skills and magic selectionsGreat concepts, fun combat, but feels limited and unfinished. Seems like so much work was put into character/pawn system, and the dynamic combat and creature models, that the story was left unfinished and partially done. Still played through it. Crafting systems is cumbersome and limited, ends up being annoying. I found it difficult to do anything with pawn skills and magic selections beyond finding a good combo to "set and forget".

If there is a successor, I'm sure Capcom will build on the concepts attempted here with good success, but this feels like Beta for such an effort.

There were some truly Epic moments, I must say, however.

The graphics are also beautiful. I had some fantastic moments out in the wild, and the screencap/sharing system is cool as well.

Agree with the current rating overall (currently 7.7)... could have been so much better.…Expand

Seriously guys, graphics are so unbalanced. Our main characters clothes and hair are like created player in PES 2012, and grounds, walls, rocks are really so simple. Dragons and other creations are really well created, good graphics.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
Dragon's Dogma is a bold, new, and adventurous game that exceeds expectations but then dashes set expectations due to its many, many shortcomings and flaws. It's like a middle child that tries to get attention from its parents but succeeds in mostly ticking them off instead of being praised by them. From the rocking but rather unexpected J-Rock opening theme song to the most ridiculous ending that I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing in my life as a gamer, Dragon's Dogma is filled with surprises both good and bad. Unfortunately, this game is only for people who are willing to stick on their blinders and are willing to endure (as many people will say, but they really mean blatantly ignore every flaw as if they don't exist) the overflowing problems. The character creation is the most extensive selection I have seen that may rival such games as Skyrim. However, despite how extensive it was, I felt that they were pretty boring. That doesn't mean it…Expand

With the lack of a strong story, no fast travel, and lack of direction still lies a fairly good RPG. The pawn system is great as it's always interesting to see what others have made and it just adds to the customisation options that is present. Dogma also has one of the best combat systems I've seen in an RPG. Fighting enemies doesn't feel floaty and the ability to scale dragons is also anWith the lack of a strong story, no fast travel, and lack of direction still lies a fairly good RPG. The pawn system is great as it's always interesting to see what others have made and it just adds to the customisation options that is present. Dogma also has one of the best combat systems I've seen in an RPG. Fighting enemies doesn't feel floaty and the ability to scale dragons is also an added touch. The content in Dogma rivals many other RPG's on the market but through the 80-90 hr experience is constant walking to locations and situations which involve dying and restarting from a checkpoint say an hour or so back. Even with it'd problems, I would still recommend it if you are even the slightest fan of action RPG's.…Expand

Dragon's Dogma has many interesting elements within the Action RPG genre. A combat system that works very well overall thanks to the many tools that owns and pawns original system (management, recruitment, study, change) that gives a lot of depth which is the battle itself. Beyond this is the vast world created remarkable, full of missions, secrets and many, many enemies will kill us againDragon's Dogma has many interesting elements within the Action RPG genre. A combat system that works very well overall thanks to the many tools that owns and pawns original system (management, recruitment, study, change) that gives a lot of depth which is the battle itself. Beyond this is the vast world created remarkable, full of missions, secrets and many, many enemies will kill us again and again. But nevertheless fails to live up to other greats of the genre.…Expand

Dragon's Dogma is the newest Capcom action RPG that blends characteristics of several other games like Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus. The game follows the story of a character, who lives in a village by the ocean that is attacked by a dragon, and while many soldiers die and people run away, you, a normal person gets a sword and face the dragon. You're defeated, but amazed atDragon's Dogma is the newest Capcom action RPG that blends characteristics of several other games like Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus. The game follows the story of a character, who lives in a village by the ocean that is attacked by a dragon, and while many soldiers die and people run away, you, a normal person gets a sword and face the dragon. You're defeated, but amazed at the bravery, he rips his heart from your chest and swallows it. Nevertheless, you do not die and resurge as a Risen to start your quest to reach the dragon, aided by human-like creatures, called Paws,beings of another dimension, that look like us, but without the spark of life that gives life and personality. The graphics are very good, in some parts and less in others, but maintains a high standard. The designs of the characters are are just a bit simpler, but very good and varied.Having a look that reminds the classic D&D look and their books of rules.

The highlights are the same environments and monsters; the scenarios are richly detailed and general environments, possesses impressive details such as wind, dust, foliage, effects of light, magic and fire... I found very realistic this recreation of a world by Capcom. The game has cycles of day / night, about 24 min, with variations among them, and in the night the number of monsters increases dramatically, and you must use itens to help visualize things like lanterns. One thing I missed: weather effects like rain and snow.

The enemies are richly detailed, and feature designs that reminds a encyclopedia of monsters of a rules book, some enemies beying huge and very impressive.

As for sounds and music: aside the corny J-Pop in the presentation, I have no criticism - the songs range from epic orchestrated music to choirs, all timely and at key moments to give the general climate the game. So say the sound effects are perfect, from scenarios sounds like winds of the sea breeze, birds and leafes up the sounds and cries of monsters and other things. The criticism in this department is in some voiceovers too forced, but nothing to panic about.

The gameplay is a mixture of RPGs, has many touches of Monster hunter (collecting) and elements from other action RPG games like Shadow of the Colossus.

Initially, you set up a character, starting from basic models pre-selected, which may or may not customize according to your preferences: you choose the name, nickname, voice (out of 6 variations). After this you can customize the face in detail, variations between body proportions and appearance, from lean to muscular and fat.

Finally you select between 3 basic specialties: Fighter, Mage and Strider. The game has a Manin Quest and Secundary Quests, and you are free to follow whatever you want, within the maps, which have physical limitations despite being enormously large.

The gameplay has good fluidity and very well done fighting, where you should actually use group work and planning, for without the help of the Pawns, you die easily, and what they do know and use is essential to survive. You have a primary weapon, with strong and weak attacks, and a secondary, which varies according to class (shield, bow and staff), each with sub-special moves. The primary and secondary weapons (selected with the shoulder buttons) have up to 4 special moves, selected with the normal buttons, that can be bought in some places with the credits that you collects in the game, and can be purchased either for you or your Pawns.

The Pawns (may be 3) are controlled by the AI, and you have a primary pawn, that can be customized as you want plus personality traits, and that is fixed, and 2 Pawns that exist in training camps, which are varied, and can be purchased (higher classes) - the main Pawn can be used in Live, where friends can use it in their party, and he brings back to you after material gains and of XP acquired, beying acessed in Rift Stones. I missed a true Coop in this game...

The fights always need a variety of strategies, and specific skills and Pawns to survive the toughest enemies. The struggles against bosses, are sometimes epic, and using the resource to climb them, as in the Shadow of the Colossus for grabs and punches.

The collection part of the game aplies to several objects found in the world or collection, and have several uses for combining or using the same material: for example, you find a empty vial and kill the goblins, sometimes takes their remains, and by combining the two, it makes oil vials that can be used to fuel lanterns, or combined with arrows to create arrows that serve oil enemies to soak them and then set fire with fire spells.Life has points, but if she regenrea food and using spells (no end Wolverine here).

In short the game is a excellent hardcore RPG, where you must use more than brawn, and presents an ingenious and varied gameplay, you just addicting, despite some wandering power churn, with elements such as coletagem / combination and press strategy.…Collapse

Although I did know what kind of game Dragon's Dogma was when I picked it up, I was hoping that it would be different, have something I found compelling, something I could get addicted to and want to spend my time with. But for me, this kind of 'old school' gaming found in Dragon's Dogma is simply tedious and rarely enjoyable.